FMP update

I presented my FMP idea to my peers in order that I could get some feedback.  I went through my Powerpoint showing my ideas, and the reasons why I was considering each option.  I referred to different photographers, artists, and painters. 

My first idea was a portrait of someone dressed as something they aspire to be, similar to Soela Zani, but not like the images produced by Stefan Bremer.  The images would empower the person to show what their dreams, and hopes for the future are.

The second idea was to do a portrait with me editing the final image either in Photoshop or by physically cutting the image.  I was quite fascinated by the idea of pixelating the image, which could be done in Photoshop, using dispersion, or cutting the image and offsetting.  The idea is that you would have to stand back from the image to get a better view of the image, or to get the’whole’ picture.

My final idea was to use instant cameras to take photos of small parts of a person’s portrait to make one final image.  It would be similar to David Hockney, abstract like Picasso, and inspired by Andy Warhol.  Again the idea is that you would stand back from the image to get a better sense of the person behind the portrait.

In all truthfullness, I am very inspired by all three ideas (possibly using them in the future in other projects), 

After considering all the feedback, and speaking with my tutor I have decided that I want proceed with my third idea, to use instant cameras. 

I already have a Polaroid camera, and several boxes of Impossible film in both black & white, and colour.  I also have an Instant Lab by Impossible which produces Polaroid films from images on your Smartphone.  The use of these two different types of cameras could produce quite an interesting project, mixing the modern with the traditional.   It would also be interesting to possibly approach the project by using the Emulsion Lift technique.  I have a kit which I can utilise.  This could possibly give another dimension to my FMP.  I have researched whether it is possible to produce Emulsion Lifts with Instax Film but from my research it appears that you cannot do this as the liquids that are held in the film will dissipate in water if the film is cut, and the emulsion comes out clear.

As well as my Polaroid camera I also have 3 Fuji Instax cameras.  I have a Instax Mini 70, an Instax Mini 90, and an Instax Wide 210.  The Instax minis use a credit card size film, whereas the Instax wide uses, as the name suggests, a wide film.  Where the mini is the size of a credit card, the wide is double the size of the mini film.   Instax film only comes in colour at the present time whereas Polaroid comes in colour, different strengths of black and white, as well as different tones of colour.  There are also different colour borders as well as shape of border. 

Instax film develops much faster than the Polaroid Impossible film, and the Polaroid film can be quite temperamental giving varying results. 

I have purchased the 3 Fuji Instax cameras, these have varying prices, depending on the seller.  At present Amazon is quite a good site to purchase both the cameras and the film from.  I have looked at the lomography sites, and Impossible Project site, and they tend to charge top prices. 

Out of all of my ideas for my FMP I feel that this project will be the most costly due to the price of the film used.  Both Polaroid and Instax films are quite expensive, and a box only usually contains 10 films.  You have to be more thoughtful and think through when and where you take your image (similar to how you work with a 35mm camera).  There are no do-overs with instant film once you have pressed that shutter button unlike digital.

The Instax Mini 90 is quite an interesting camera in that it has two added modes to the standard Instax Mini camera.  This camera has a double exposure option, which I think will produce some interesting images, together with bulb mode.  I am hoping to try and incorporate these into my project somehow.

 I can start my project by photographing my son who has a learning disability. 

Regarding legislation and ethics – I feel that there is no current legislation that I need to consider when looking at my FMP idea, but I do feel that there are ethics to be considered.   You have to show the person that you are photographing respect, they are human beings, with the same rights as everyone else, and they do not deserve to be exploited. 

I do not think that my FMP would work with just one image, and therefore I feel that I would have to produce 2, 3 and possibly a 4^th image.

When displaying my images I want them to have a more sculptural feel.  I would want to place the final images onto foam board.  I am not sure whether this should be a portrait style or whether the foam board should be cut around the actual Polaroid/Instax images.  I feel the latter would aesthetically be more pleasing rather than a bog-standard portrait shape.  The final images would in effect make up a large jigsaw, with some overlapping in certain areas, and some parts and features enlarged.  (Similar to a Picasso painting – abstract.)  With this in mind before actually gluing the films in place I would have to make sure that the images were representative of the person I have photographed, and not a mockery. 

My FMP I feel is all about how we perceive people, and I want to look at how we look at people with disabilities, and how they are perceived by the images we produce. 

For the past 12 months I have been undertaking projects where I work with people who have disabilities, and I have taken photographs with them in different situations.  I hope that I can continue to do this work and work with organisations that promote self-esteem, positive attitudes and the like for people with disabilities.  I have through my work with Fox Hollies Special School made many contacts, and feel that I can continue to make links in the community because of this. 

I do not intend to only photograph people with disabilities but I feel that I have an empathy with them; an understanding, and I feel that I can communicate with them quite well.  I hope to continue to do this. 

FMP 2016 Ideas

Since commencing my 2^nd year on the Photography HND I had become very interested in disability and the perception we have of people with disabilities.  I have already produced a research project where I looked at a group of young people with learning disabilities who worked as a dance company in collaboration with a local college and the Birmingham Royal Ballet.  The idea of this was to show them from the start of their rehearsals right up until their final performance.  I wanted to show them in a positive light, and hoped that when people look at the images I have produced they will see the pride that they have in their performance. 

My critical essay has also looked at disability, but that of military veterans who have been injured in recent conflicts.  Again, it is all about the matter of perception.  I compared two photographers, and how they had portrayed their images.  One photographer had a more subtle approach, whilst the other used a more theatrical approach with HDR inspired images.  The different styles affected how the viewer of the images reacted. 

During my research for my critical essay I had come across a photographer called Soela Zani who had photographed 18 young people with Down’s Syndrome in the style of different artists i.e. “Master John Heathcote” by Thomas Gainsborough, and “Harriet Ann Seale” by John Hoppner.  The photographer has taken images of the young people stylized in costumes similar to the original painting, and in some instances Photoshopped them into the same background as the original.  In some instances she had used a similar background.  Each image is produced sympathetically, but you don’t feel sorry for the young people.  The images aren’t a mockery even though they are a mock up of the original image.

Upon seeing these photographs I thought that I would like to produce a series of images of young people with disabilities dressed as someone they aspired to be, with that in mind I wouldn’t want the images to be seen as insulting.  I would hope to show that I have treated them with the respect that they deserve.

With a view to getting some primary research for our FMP’s we had a trip into Birmingham City Centre to visit BMAG, and the Ikon Gallery.   At BMAG, the Waterhall Gallery they had an exhibition called ‘New Art West Midlands 2016’.  We had a wonder around the exhibit, looking at the various styles, ways of exhibiting/hanging/framing etc.  It was during this visit that I came across an installation by Rebecca Fellows called 0-Lift-Off (2015) which mimics a large scale plane model kit which is impossible to physically construct or fly.  These could sometimes be found in ‘Lucky Bags’ or as party favours.  The originals were made of polystyrene.  What struck me about Fellows’ work was the pixilation of the airplane.  You had to stand back from the display to actually see the full picture, then the pixilation was less evident, and especially if you squinted your eyes.

It was once I had seen the pixilation that I thought about wanting to produce an image, or series of images that were possibly pixelated, and where you would have to stand back to get the full picture.  This I felt is somewhat of a metaphor for what you have to do in life.  I feel that only once you have the full picture that you can understand a person. 

I spoke with my tutor about this idea, and she said that there was an option in Photoshop to apply a filter, pixelate, and then go to color halftone.  Obviously, I would have to look at the filter, and investigate other ways of trying to pixelate an image.  When I was at school I did an art project where I copied an image of Paul Newman, and I reproduced his image by making dots of differing size and colour depth to produce a final image.

Another option in Photoshop would be to use dispersion to break apart the image, so you

don’t have the full image.

Examples of dispersion using Photoshop.

I have looked at several different artists, photographers, and painters, David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Picasso for inspiration. 

David Hockney, and inspired montages.

Andy Warhol.

Picasso

Portrait of Ambroise Vollard

3 Mini Project Proposals

1.         Take DSLR images of a model, portraiture, studio or location dressed as someone who they aspire to be.

Take DSLR portrait images of a model and then in Photoshop distort the image by either pixelating the image, or using a dispersion technique.  Cover the model’s face with props – flowers, butterflies, their hair, etc.  (I have looked at several YouTube videos on how to produce dispersion of an image, and a Photoshop Bookazine with several different techniques.)

2.         Distorting the image by cutting it, and moving parts about.  Cutting in circles within circles and moving the image slightly.

3.         Use a DSLR, Polaroid or Fuji Instax camera to produce a montage of images of a model, and then creating a portrait of them from these. 

I have just purchased a Fuji Instax mini camera that has a double exposure option, and possibly taking a montage of images again, and again creating a portrait. 

I’m also looking at Polaroid lifts for a different effect.

I now need to consider approaching different people to act as models for me, this may or may not be a person with a disability as the image produced won’t actually be a true reflection of the person I photograph.

When using my DSLR there is no real expense apart from the final printing of the image, but when using Polaroid and Fuji Instax film this could become quite expensive (although a faux Polaroid could be produced using the DSLR).

The Impossible Project Workshop

In April we had a bit of a more relaxed day at College as we were going to be doing the “Impossible Project" workshop.  I will go into a bit about "Impossible" and then summarise our workshop.  

The company Impossible took over the production of Polaroid film after production of the film ceased.

In 2008, Impossible purchased the Polaroid™ factory in Enschede, The Netherlands. The components used by Polaroid™ were no longer usable, and the formula had to be re-invented.

A few years after the very first pack of film produced by Impossible, the formula has been refined to provide a rich color palette and a fast development time. 

The current generation of Black & White Impossible film has a development time of approximately 10 minutes, the Color ones of approximately 40 minutes, but they were working on a faster emergence and development film. 

I was lucky enough to have been given an old Polaroid by my mom and dad, and this was what I would use for the Impossible Project today.  I purchased a black and white film from the college shop.  The films come in packs of 8 unlike the old Polaroid, which came in packs of 10.  (You need to remember this when using your camera, as the counter on the camera is configured for packs of 10 films.)

Emma first showed us how she approached the Impossible Project.  Emma used a scalpel to remove all of the frame/border from the Polaroid.  (I had done a bit of research online, watching YouTube videos about how to do Polaroid lifts.)  We then went through the process of then cleaning the white emulsion off the Polaroid, and what we were left with looked quite “snotty”.  We then had to manipulate the film and apply it first to our paper, and then to our tile.

My Polaroid films didn’t seem to develop properly, and were quite faint.  I did go back outside to take a couple more films, but without much improvement.  One film that was faint but vaguely recognizable was the one I decided to use.  I decided not to use a scalpel, and after watching YouTube I decided to use scissors to remove the frame and proceed to get the lift onto the paper.  Although the image is faint, it has an aged quality and looks vaguely sepia in tone.  I did try a second Polaroid, which was quite old, and there was some problem removing the white emulsion from it.  I did get as much off as I could and then put the lift onto some more paper.

The black and white film did seem more fragile than the colour film.

This was quite a fun project, and it is something that I want to try again at home.  I have purchase a Universal Instant Lab.  With this I can then use my smartphone images and print them out onto Impossible film.  I have purchased some Impossible film, but these have fancy borders, I will purchase some white border film and keep the fancy borders for other use, it would be a shame to have to throw away the border.

So something that is "impossible" can still be fun.  You can download their App for your smartphone, and you can also look at their website where you can get lots of inspiration.  Beware though as you may be tempted into purchasing from there, it can be quite addictive!

I will be adding some images from my workshop soon, so keep an eye out for these.

Darkroom vs Digital Techniques - Polaroids, Frames, Lifts, Diptychs and Triptychs

As part of this assignment 'Darkroom vs Digital Techniques' we had to go through the process of producing images that had frames, a Polaroid look, lifts, diptychs and triptychs.  The are all styles that can be produced non-digitally, but for this part of the assignment we had to go through the different stages to produce them digitally.  Below are some screenshots of the process of producing the different styles.  Hopefully, you can have some fun yourself, and have a go a producing your own.  It takes a bit of fun, but adds another dimension to your digital images.

The first image would again need to be darkened in the background so that they all have this consistency.

TTV

Bringing two images so you can see them both in Photoshop.  Cmd + A, Cmd + C, Cmd + V.

Blending mode to multiply.

Resize image where necessary.

Enter quick mask by pressing Q.  

Select Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur.  Set the radius accordingly.

Screen Shots of Polaroid Emulsion Transfer

Make sure all parts are brought together in a single file, having opened a new A4 page.  Make sure that the orientation is appropriate for the image.  Landscape and portrait.

Select, Modify, Expand.

Feather radius 1 pixel.

Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur.

Using the liquify tool.

The start of a Diptych.

Selected quick mask so that I could select an area to darken the background so that both images’ backgrounds were darker.

A triptych on an A3 background.

The first image would again need to be darkened in the background so that they all have this consistency.

The digital techniques of Polaroids, Frames, and Lifts can add texture to original images.  They aren't the same as Polaroids etc, but do try to play homage to these original photographic styles.  

The Diptych and Triptychs are there for you to use to show a series, or theme.  Diptych means two, Triptych means three, and so on.  Just remember that the images that you want to display within these should have a theme, i.e. Street Photography, Portraits, Landscapes, etc.  They should ideally have a connection.  You don't want to have one image of a portrait, a landscape, and then wildlife.  Try to be consistent.  

You just need to remember that these techniques that I have shown are really just for fun, or to add a bit of texture to your images.  With practice you will find the processes become easier, and as they say practice makes perfect. 

My images have been edited in Photoshop, but you may find that other editing software can be used to the same effect.